you know what that sound means it's another episode
of game for a movie where we ask are you game
for a movie we've got a special edition episode
for you today i am mike your host i am joined
by jill mitchell and we have a very special guest
a friend of mine that i've known since high school
please welcome mark to the show yo yo mark what's
up dude the sub the subtlety will wear off i'll
get Much more energetic. Don't worry. We've got
a very special show for you. We are making all
of the Oscar predictions. Every single category
we are going to pick a winner for. We are also
going to tell you what we are drinking. I will
get us started from Big Tree Brewing. I have
a hazy single hop mosaic IPA called... Look at
that. You just cut out there, so I didn't get
to hear what it was called. Oh, it's called Yacht
Rock. It's called Yacht Rock. I love Yacht Rock.
Because summer can't come soon enough, loads
of late addition and dry hopping for Mac's pleasure.
Recycle this can or else. I like that. Where's
the brewery? That's a good question. Big Tree
Brewing is in Vermont. There you go. Wilston,
Vermont. Jill, I see you're holding yours up.
What do you got there? Well, mine doesn't have
any fun things to say on it, but I'm drinking
Local 35 from Hog River. This may have been featured
on the podcast. Hog River is local to me in Hartford,
Connecticut. This is an India pale ale, so a
little different than what I normally drink.
It's got some government warnings on the label,
and it says that the artwork is by Mount Hook,
and you can find them at mounthook .com. Love
it. All right. Mitchell, what are you doing?
This has some government warnings as I take a
sip. That is hilarious. You're coming all the
way from the West Coast. I love the power of
technology with this stuff. I am. Guys, I'm in
the heart of Hollywood, and I have zero insight
on the Oscars, so I have no idea why I'm here.
But it is early in the morning for me, not really
early in the morning. It's like mid -morning.
And I'm drinking coffee. In particular, I have
an espresso. It tastes like caramel. It's the
caramel cookie one, I think. I have it in my
nice little glass mug. The caramel is Kahlua.
Did you brew it yourself or did a machine do
it? The machine did it for me. Mitchell versus
the machines. This time we were working together.
It was good. We'll talk about that later. Mark,
what do you got over there? No surprise. I'm
not that big of a drinker. per se i am huge on
sparkling water though okay um so i'm drinking
bubbly blackberry bubbly as it were um yes absolutely
yeah um uh this is the they also have bubbly
bounce i already had one today but bubbly bounce
is the caffeinated drink of them there you go
which is actually really good but no this one's
blackberry Yeah. All right. So before we get
started with all our Oscars fun, Mark, you and
I went to high school together. You have been
holding this over my head because you have not
told me yet. You found your yearbook. Yes. So
for the listeners, just so they know, I was a
very well -matured, smart senior of sorts when
Mike was a baby freshman. So I decided to look
up into the yearbook, the one year we went together
and find out what did Mike write me in that yearbook.
And I've been holding him in suspense for weeks
now. And I can properly let him know that what
he wrote in my yearbook was absolutely nothing.
You did not sign my yearbook at all. Oh, I'm
a monster being twist. Yeah. Wow. yeah now now
that could have been now in fairness that could
have also been there could have been many reasons
one of which could have been because that was
since we were both from Chicago that was easily
the best 05 was the best year for Chicago baseball
in a long time as you will remember um I thought
about wearing my Cubs World Series shirt just
for this because I remembered you're a White
Sox fan yes absolutely um That's a whole nother
pod. Yeah, right. But yes, no, you did not write
anything and that is okay. If I wrote something
in yours, I probably didn't either. Clearly the
next time you guys hang out, Mike's got to rectify
the situation. I will sign your yearbook. Wow.
All right. I feel like a heel now. All right.
Well, dang. All right. I guess let's get into
this Oscar stuff because then I'll feel better
about myself at least because I know you're going
to kick the crap out of me in this. Mark is our
expert as well as Mitchell, as well as Jill.
I don't care what she says. She is our expert.
I am the idiot on this podcast. I have not made
my picks even. I'm going to go on the fly. That's
how great I prepared for this episode. Mike,
I also have not made. There's only one category
I have made my pick in. And, yeah, everyone I
think who knows who's listened to this podcast
can probably guess which category that is. But,
yeah, everything else is on the fly. So, no,
not an expert. Well, we're going to talk about
first. This year they have decided not to televise
eight categories. Those categories are best animated
short, best documentary short, best live action
short, all the shorts out of it, best sound,
best makeup hairstyle, best production design.
Best original score and best film editing. So
those eight categories are not going to be televised.
How do you guys feel about that? I'm all for
the concept of making these very elongated award
ceremonies streamlined, but this isn't. how you
do it I rather have them dedicate screen time
to actually giving awards than stupid skits where
people are doing a selfie or someone orders dominoes
for the first three rows or you know any of the
little stage celebrity stuff that they do that
can go to the wayside I don't need to see that
I rather see people getting credit for the work
that they've done Yeah, I think a big part of
this for me, it's not so much the overall length
of the show, and it always runs over three hours.
It happens every single year for the most part,
even in the pandemic year. It's going to do it
again, even with the categories not televised.
Exactly. And my thing is this, and just thinking
of Chicago baseball, I remember watching game
seven of the 2016 World Series, right? That game
went on forever. I was hooked from the first
pitch all the way until the Cubs are celebrating
on the field. I think it's less about the length
and more so about what is happening during the
show itself to Jill's point. So I think it's
figuring out ways to breathe some life into the
show and frankly, get some more interest into
the show beyond the, you know, movies that are
nominated. Right. The reason why the Oscars.
ratings have been tanking is they don't nominate
movies like spider -man no way home and look
for me spider -man no way home is not a top 10
movie of the year but we should celebrate it
oh my you see how much money it made how many
people like had a great time at the movies for
the first time in two years because of that thing
i don't know i feel like there are different
ways to celebrate movies and accomplishments
that go beyond the nominees And I feel like the
Academy has to figure out a way to incorporate
that into the show. Mark, what do you got over
there? I can tell your gears are turning. Well,
yes, my gears are always turning. No, so yeah.
I mean, short answer, yes. It's dumb that they're
doing this. The only three categories I could
see out of the 23 they would want to maybe cut
for now would only be the shorts because those
are the ones that most people haven't. I mean,
most people haven't seen a lot of the movies,
but those are definitely the three that most
people haven't seen from. But they've been doing
a lot of changes with the award show over the
years. And I mean, I'm glad they're bringing
at least hosts back because the last few years
has not been good. Last year, especially with
COVID, last year's show was atrocious. I mean,
they didn't even end it on best picture. And
then it was that weird ending and all that. And
then another thing too, is, you know, there,
we can talk about this when we talk about each
of the categories, but each category does still
bring something to the table when making a movie
without any doubt. And I haven't heard anyone
aside from, I forgot the guy's name, but whoever
the president of the Academy is. I haven't heard
anyone besides him who has given a really good
reason for saying, well, this is why we had to
cut them, you know. And then there's the other
thing. And I don't think and I don't know if
we talked about this, but I have to bring it
up. There's the other change they brought to
the Oscars this year, which was the Twitter polling
of the Oscar fan favorite, which was so basically
it's already done. with the polling it was at
the beginning of march and it was you basically
could put on your twitter feed or whatever your
favorite oscar moment or favorite sorry movie
moment or movie of 2021 and whoever got the most
votes would be saying hey you won the twitter
thing at the oscars which i think is absolute
ludicrousness never put people in charge of this
yeah never yeah never i mean winning film they
didn't so they didn't say yet the one thing that
the only reason I voted a few times was because
they did say three random people would get to
go to the Oscars next year as presenters I'm
like okay I I mean I'd want to go to the Oscars
of course yeah but but from what I saw and it's
I might have it on my phone somewhere but they
had a uh ranking of Like these were the 10 films
with the most mentions at one point. So it originally
started out as a way of saying, okay, finally,
we'll give Spider -Man No Way Home its moment
in the sun at the Oscars. But there were other
ones too that made zero sense to me. There's
this one Johnny Depp movie, which I'd never heard
of at all. That apparently came out last year
where he, I can't remember the name of it, but
he's basically playing an Asian photographer.
Great. Good start. And, you know, the Suicide
Squad was on there. And most importantly for
me, that was on there was Cinderella. The Kamiya
Cabello Cinderella. Yeah, Amazon. which i have
which i have been yes the amazon cinderella which
i have been on the record of saying was the worst
movie i saw last year oh you didn't like it when
james corden mouse was talking about finding
new ways to pee i missed that i didn't i missed
that i also i also missed yes i also didn't like
it when the prince was talking at the ball to
all the other guys trying to get rid of the women
by starting to sing i'm gonna fight him off that
was a good matchup though seven nation army uh
x uh yeah but that came out of nowhere that's
actually the best sequence of the film i was
gonna say that that's the one thing Which is
just saying something. We could do a whole nother
pod on why that movie did not work. Yes, yes
we can. It probably will be a bad movie episode.
Yes, and I saw Dear Evan Hansen too for that
matter. Oh my gosh. Did you guys see the editing
sequence that went viral a couple weeks ago about
like this is why Dear Evan Hansen was an awful
movie and it was just showing an awful sequence
that was poorly edited. Anyway, among other reasons,
the editing is also bad. Exactly. That's what
it came down to. Yeah. One thing I do want to
bring up, I think the Oscars may have also have
unopened a certain amount of unintended consequences
with moving these awards off of the actual telecast.
And I'm not sure if you all saw, but Jessica
Chastain has said that she is. She hasn't made
it official, but she is basically. I didn't see
this. Yeah. Yeah. She's threatening to not show
up in solidarity with her makeup team who did
a lot of work on Tammy Faye, which is the role
that she is dominated for. And that is a big
red flag because currently Jessica Chastain is
the odds on favorite to win best actress. I'm
not sure if she's going to win. Same for makeup
too. Exactly. Makeup is most likely going to
win. I think that is the more lock of the two.
But then if you the biggest deal for the Oscars,
you don't have your best actress with a speech
in the telecast because you move makeup off of
the actual award show, which ultimately hurts
the quality of the show. No, wait, did you say
that she was missing the entire show? You didn't
say she's missing the entire show. I heard she
was just missing the red carpet. oh okay she's
not showing up on a red carpet jeez mitchell
yeah let's see who even watches the red carpet
parts i guess a lot of people watch that a lot
of people do but yeah it's it's one of the okay
well then that that threat's a little bit less
hollow now or it's a little bit more hollow than
what i thought it was going to be um but she
really wanted to make some noise as the odds
on favorite to say hey i'm not going to show
up to your show that could be a whole nother
thing Well, I'm not going to show up to the show
in honor of solidarity. Yeah. Mike, you weren't
invited. Well, that doesn't have anything to
do with it. I'm in solidarity. I think it would
be more impactful if she didn't show up. Her
not walking on a red carpet and then still being
captured on camera throughout the night in the
audience or hobnobbing behind stage completely
deflates any impact of not showing up because...
You're still there. It's an award. You want to
stand on stage. Would this be her first Oscar
if she got it too? Yeah. It would be so much
more symbolic if she had someone collect the
award in her honor because she wanted to stand
up for her team. You know what she could do?
Have her makeup team go up and accept the award
if she were to win. That would be cool. Or that
she can resurrect Joan Crawford from the dead
and have Joan Crawford win the award, take the
award for somebody in her honor. Cause that's
what Joan Crawford did when she, during an Oscar
year to like sit by another actress. Yeah. Oh
no, she did that. No, I know this one. Yeah.
She did it for Betty Davis. Cause the Betty Davis
and Joan Crawford feud is like one of the biggest,
if not the biggest in the history of Hollywood.
I think it was Anne Bancroft who won over Betty
Davis. So Joan and Anne Bancroft wasn't there.
So Joan Crawford apparently went up and. just
so she could say to Betty Davis, excuse me, I
have to get my Oscar. Yeah, basically. She's
very savvy of the situation. Yes. Mike, let's
make sure we never turn into Joan Crawford and
Betty Davis. I think we're okay. Besides the
fact that I didn't sign her yearbook, I think
we'll be all right. Yeah. So let's get jumped
into this because we have a lot to get through.
This is probably going to be two episodes, just
seeing how long each thing is going to take,
which is totally fine. We're probably going to
release it. Usually we release on Thursdays.
We're probably going to release the first part
on Tuesday with the second part on Thursday because
the show is Sunday. So let's get into it. I'm
going to read you the category and the nominees,
and then we're going to make our predictions.
First, we are going to start with Best Animated
Short. Not televised, of course. Best Animated
Short nominees are Affairs of the Art, Bestia,
Box Ballet, Robin Robin, and The Windshield Wiper.
Guys, who has seen any of these? Please. I have.
Say something. I have. Okay, what do you got,
Mark? This is why Mark's our expert. Lead me
in the right direction. And just so we know,
I do have a prediction because Mark wanted this
to be clear. We go to our experts last, so we're
not like jumping on their coattails. I do have
a prediction. It's not changing no matter what
you say. So go ahead. Well, I also mentioned
too that I won't have all of my predictions finalized
because we still have certain awards coming up.
I'll let you know where to find my final ones
and stuff like that. So I have seen two of these.
There's actually a way you can see these in theater,
which is not easy for me in Chicago because,
as Mike knows, parking downtown Chicago is not
fun. Miserable. Or cheap. Or cheap, for that
matter. So I wouldn't be able to see all of them
in time. But some of these I got to see. Some
you can see online. The two I saw were Affairs
of the Art, which was, I think, through the New
Yorker or something like that, their website.
It was bizarre. really like bizarre animated
movie if you have kids do not let them see that
movie at all um i mean it's like yeah anyway
and the other which i believe is the favorite
here which was a cute one is on netflix which
is robin robin that is the odds on favorite yep
yeah so at the so yeah my go -to for that would
so that would be my first choice for that as
of right now jill what do you got i know nothing
about these films but i like the name robin because
it makes me think of robin williams and it makes
me think of kermit's nephew robin the frog so
robin robin mitchell i'm gonna go with uh the
dick grayson tim drake mac mashup of robin robin
as well so uh and honestly it's just because
of the betting odds Okay. Well, I already like
it even more because it's by the same production
company that does Wallace and Gromit. Oh, no
way. Okay. You can totally tell I prepared for
this. So yeah, Robin Robin even more so locks
in to support stop motion animation. And I'm
pretty sure it's across the board. I chose Robin
Robin as well for the singular reason of one
of the people nominated for Robin Robin has the
name Mike. So yeah. One quick thing. One quick
thing before we go, I forgot to mention. I can't
speak for you guys, but for me, I, when we say
like odds on favorites and stuff, I know nothing
about betting or anything like that. So I don't
want people adding me or whatever saying, how
dare you make me lose my car or something like
that. Yes. Please do not bet on our picks. We
do not claim to win you money. If you're going
to a family pool or something like that, that's
a different story, but don't like go to Vegas
and put the house down on Robin Robin. yeah everyone
was like well yeah you're the masters of your
own fate but literally you are the you're the
one who chose not us so no blaming yes exactly
everyone thought last year chad bozeman was a
sure shoe in and then he didn't win so right
now yep oh yeah that's a whole other discussion
yeah that was just you died you deserve an oscar
yeah But he was a good actor, so I don't want
to sound like he didn't deserve it. All right.
Best documentary short. Here are our nominees.
Nominees are Audible, Lead Me Home, The Queen
of Basketball, Three Songs for Benazir, and When
We Were Bullies. And I guarantee I'm going to
pronounce one of these wrong eventually, so don't
judge me. I'm trying to hook down phonics as
shit. Mike, I think you said Queen of Basketball,
correct? Yes. And that is actually my pick. Now,
it is the favorite, not a heavy favorite, but
is currently the favorite in this category. But
the reason why I'm picking it is, one, I've seen
it. It is on YouTube. I think it was put up at
the New York Times. And this is a short about
the first and only woman to be drafted by an
NBA team back in the 1960s. So ESPN did some
coverage on her story before, but this is now
just a documentary treatment. She is so delightful
in it. She has now passed away. But in the shooting
of this documentary, she was incredible. And
Shaquille O 'Neal was an executive producer on
this project. So I have a lot of rooting interest
here. I'm a huge Shaq fan. Queen of Basketball
is my pick here. Okay. Is that the only one you
saw? Oh, yeah. So I'm only going to go with what
I know. Okay, gotcha. What about you, Mike? So
I'm going queen of basketball as well. I've heard
of when we were bullies and those were the two
I was deciding between. The reason I'm going
queen of basketball. And I, again, I just want
it to be clear. I was thinking that before Mitchell
said anything and before you mentioned odds on
favorite, anything like that, this is what the
third year in a row, something basketball related
has been nominated. And, and I mean, but truthfully,
and every single one has won. There's the Kobe
one, and then there was... There's the animated
one from last year, there before. Yeah. That
was the Kobe one, the animated one. No, no, I
was thinking of a different one. I'd have to
look this up. Yeah, I'm looking it up, but yes.
It's the third one, and it just feels like every
single time basketball is in the running, because
people can relate to it, and that's the reason
why I think it's... it does so well is because
people relate to it and they feel the passion.
They feel the everything with it. So that's why
when I saw a basketball, I was like, all right,
this is going to be it. Yeah. Yeah. So. for oh
wait sorry joe what's that you're yeah um i'm
gonna go against the green here i haven't seen
any of them but i did hear about audible which
um follows a maryland school of the death senior
athlete um and his teammates journey to defend
a winning streak um i believe it's with football
um and they're also dealing with the death of
a friend and you know what Let's see the basketball
documentary or short streak die. Let's let's
let's do something different. And also just the
story sounded really intriguing. And, you know,
why not? Yeah. All right. So I have seen four
of these. The only one. Well, three of them are
on Netflix. uh which were the three on netflix
were the audible lead me home and three songs
for ben azir the one we were bullies i found
out this and even playing like for the public
until after the oscars which is never interesting
i like that yeah um but yeah i think i'd probably
end up going queen of basketball as the odds
-on favorite i did like audible probably the
most out of all of them and that's interesting
for the lead me home because of the subject matter
which talks about the uh the homelessness problem
in los angeles oh wow yeah so that'll be interesting
to see how that plays out so i think mark you
brought up a really good uh point in these past
two categories you've been watching a lot of
these on netflix and i think it's so awesome
how accessible these shorts are because think
back 10 years ago if you were a cinephile and
you wanted to watch these how were you going
to do it yeah yeah yeah there'd be i mean they
like i was saying they sometimes have uh like
certain theaters will say hey we're playing all
the shorts in a row and yeah but only do it for
like one day Yeah. And the only other time it's
doing anything near me is next weekend, which
is when the Oscars are. Yeah, that helps. Yeah.
So well, especially for somebody like me, I worked
weekends up until now. Hey. And so it became
I couldn't go to these because, you know, you
pay for your money and then you have to leave.
Like, no, you know, it doesn't work out. You
know, I probably could have seen it anyway. But
yeah, you're right on about. Where could you
see it before Netflix and that kind of stuff?
That brings us to our final of the shorts categories.
Best live action short. Here are your nominees.
This is going to be said wrong. I can already
tell. A La Cachou, Take and Run, The Dress, The
Long Goodbye, On My Mind, and Please Hold. I've
got mine right away. Just looking at these categories.
I see Riz Ahmed. I say Riz Ahmed. The Long Goodbye
is my pick. I don't know if Saad's on favorite.
I just saw Riz Ahmed and said yes, because anything
that man does, yes. Yeah, Mike, it is the favorite
at minus 225. And that's going to be my pick
as well. What's interesting about this movie
in particular, this short film in particular,
is that I had heard of it. So I haven't seen
it. I haven't heard about this movie for two
years. So I'm really curious because I remember
this being talked about when Sound of Metal was
out last year, you know, just like talking about
Riz Ahmed. And I'm just curious how the nomination
process goes for short films like this, if they
had been around for that long. Anyway, I'm making
that my pick as well. Mark, I'm sure you have
seen it or at least some of the other nominees.
Curious what you have to say. Well, actually
that is the only one I've seen because it thankfully
is, you can see it right now. It's on YouTube
for free. And, um, it's also really, really powerful
too. It's, uh, so yeah. Um, unless if I get around
to seeing the others and seeing it, but it, it,
it is the odds. I'm favorite. That's the one
I'm, that'll be my first, basically almost for
sure. When I'll say it's going to win is the
long goodbye. Lock it down. I have not heard
of any of these, so I will bow down to popular
opinion and say the long goodbye as well. Although,
from a quick skim of each of these, the dress
and On My Mind sounds very, very interesting.
Specifically, particularly On My Mind, which
I believe is a Danish film. I'd like to have
an opportunity to see that, if possible, in the
near future. I'm looking at the name Kim Magnuson
and I feel like I recognize that from somewhere.
But it could just be a familiar name. Okay, pulling
up the category I know best. Visual effects.
Yay, finally. Now I can talk with confidence
here. I have seen four of the five of these movies.
Which is the fifth you haven't seen? Dune. It
never had anything for me. I know everybody says
go see Dune and everything like that, and especially
that it's on HBO Max. I can just watch it whenever.
Literally, it just had no interest at all for
me. I'll start with this one. Let's read the
nominees first. We'll get to you. You'll go first.
Don't worry. Visual effects category. The nominees
are Dune, Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang -Chi
and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider -Man
No Way Home. These categories are all in alphabetical
order, I've noticed as well, just in case you're
thinking I'm reading it in one way or the other.
Jill, go ahead. You can get us started. So I've
seen four of the five as well. The one I have
not seen is No Time to Die. I had genuinely no
interest in seeing the last Bond film. I think
it will likely be Dune. To me, that is the one.
that has the strongest visual effects throughout
um Shang -Chi and Spider -Man were both really
great films particularly with Shang -Chi at the
end it turns into a CGI you know bonanza yeah
that's I'm happy it's nominated I don't know
if it if it wins I would be a little eye roll
I think Dune is by far the better film three
guy was fine same deal it looks nice but the
whole film has a lot of visual effects and by
the end you kind of start to see the chips in
the paint um yeah but dune looks consistently
great throughout um all the way so in my order
no time to die is fifth out of five and not for
any reason like it was a good movie but There's
just barely any real visual effects. Like, yeah,
there's some, of course, but for the most part,
they went with practical stuff. So it's not like
it's a bunch of CGI fight scenes or anything
like that. You know, that kind of thing. The
two I was stuck with, because Free Guy and Shang
-Chi were kind of in the middle for me. The two
I was stuck with was Spider -Man No Way Home
and Dune. When we're talking about visual effects,
I think Spider -Man No Way Home is going to pull
it off. Not because Dune's bad in any way, shape,
or form. Again, I haven't seen it, so I can't
say fully. But I just feel like in this particular
category, just more so because I think Dune's
going to get more later on. So I think this is
kind of like the throw a bone to a superhero
movie one. And if you're going to throw it to
a superhero movie, Spider -Man No Way Home beats
Shang -Chi, in my opinion. That's the only reason
why I say Spider -Man No Way Home over Dune.
I don't think I would ever say that fully. Yeah.
So Mike, I'm with you there. I'm not going to
pick Spider -Man No Way Home. It's my number
two. I'm going to go with Dune. And I'll say
this, having watched Dune in a theater, blown
away by it, really blown away by the quality
of the visuals. And Denis Villeneuve, I know
he's not technically someone nominated in this
category, but he has a strong hold on visuals.
overall whether you're talking about blade runner
where you're talking about arrival uh this guy
has a really good sense of scale and i think
that is one of the biggest parts of the visual
effects for dune um and i was just blown away
by it um so that is by far my favorite of these
five when it comes to visual effects so that's
going to be my pick nice mark yeah i won't uh
beat around the bush too much here. I have seen
all five, but Dune was Dune is going to win this.
It has to. That movie in theaters was just mind
blowing and also interesting thing to kind of
going up against Shang -Chi and Spider -Man.
Sadly, of all movies in the MCU nominated in
visual effects, none of them have won. Wow. Okay.
Consistently. Yeah. Well, I'm ready to eat crow
on this one. Yeah. Again, it's tough because
I haven't seen Dune, and it's my own doing. It's
my own Duning. I was going to say that, you bastard.
I was going to let him say it because I was just
like, do I really want to bite that? No, not
really. I'm good. I wanted to bite it. I wanted
to bite the bullet on that one. Yeah. So it led
to my own Dune. I'm going to take a second though
to acknowledge a film that was not nominated
and maybe visual effects isn't the exact category
that it would have been represented in but it
wasn't nominated for anything and that's The
Green Knight. I knew you were going to say that.
I was thinking it should be in here. That is
one of the few movies I missed last year. I still
have to say that. I saw that in a theater and
it was fantastic. I'm very disappointed it didn't
get nominated for anything it would have been
eligible for including um actor director um original
story um original uh screenplay things like that
it should have at least gotten some recognition
um i think it's really unfair and it what's strange
is that i feel like five six ten years ago that
film would have been nominated because it was
so weird and different and now it didn't happen
at all and and having not seen the green knight
either i would 100 % put it in over No Time to
Die and have a harder choice overall. Sorry,
I was just going to say it also has to do with
for us who are not in Hollywood or in the business,
I should say, because I know Mitch is out there.
Throw your rock at the Hollywood sign from there.
The other thing that we tend to miss out a lot
on is all the promoting that is done. Because
there'll be a lot of that going on. And so maybe
they just didn't promote the Green Knight. Maybe
they did. I don't know. So anyway. That's fair.
No, that's totally fair. They didn't want to
put the financial power behind its Oscar nomination
campaign. Yeah. So a little bit behind the curtain
here. This is an A24 movie. So a smaller production
house. But they've had success. See Moonlight.
But the one film, so basically they have an Oscar
budget really for one movie every year. And this
year it was Tragedy of Macbeth. So they put their
chips in that. corner. However, I definitely
agree with Jill. Really love The Green Knight.
I think Dip Patel delivered an amazing performance
in it. And the visuals, and I would have to look
at the budget. I'm sure it's not nearly as high
as something as Dune or Spider -Man. I thought
the visuals were incredible, especially against
a smaller budget. Right. I think that film utilized
a lot of practical effects as well, specifically
for the titular Green Knight. But there are some
really fantastic landscapes landscape shots that
probably were touched up with maybe not tgi per
se but um computer visual effects to make them
happen and you know it like i said it's a shame
that it wasn't nominated for at least something
right all right we move now to non -televised
category best sound nominees are belfast dune
no time to die the power of the dog and west
side story So glad that they, sorry, I'm just
going to say one of the main things they did
that made me happy, at least as they combined,
combined the sound categories, because I know
there is a difference apparently between sound
editing and sound mixing. I don't know anyone
who knows that, what those, what those are. So
that at least makes it easier. Yeah. Well, would
mixing be the one that makes the actual sound
and then editing would be? Sure. what actually
where you layer it into the film i think i only
have a sense of that because i've watched so
many behind the scenes stuff for like the lord
of the rings and the hobbits so like watching
them like crush pieces of metal or stamp things
on the ground that would be the mixing and then
the editing is like figuring out like when a
fist connects with someone's armor what this
sound when it should come together that that
that that's my not official explanation yeah
well Either way, they made it. I got one. What
is it, Mike? What's that story? Why? I was going
to say a musical has to stand out here. Yes.
But I want you to talk about more before I give
my pick. Oh, OK. I'll give you why. West Side
Story, I've heard, is beautifully edited, as
well as if you can make what's his name sound
good? yeah baby driver baby driver uh if you
can make him sound good in a singing role you
deserve all the oscars because i'll be honest
i don't think he can sing there you go hot take
that i've heard that no i'm with you he's more
of a dancer i would say like that oh yeah he
can move he can yeah yeah and yeah he can put
the moves on people yeah um oh don't do that
don't do that all right what what was that that's
a bad joke is that english uh yes the west side
story is my pick um i have seen two of these
actual movies um which is no time to die and
power of the dog power of the dog was great but
i don't think necessarily sound i feel like it's
gonna win a lot of other categories yeah which
we yeah we may be spoilers ahead for that but
um no time to die i mean like you have to do
the shooting and everything like that and like
sound effects it's good um but i don't know for
me west side story the musical aspect um i'm
sure belfast and dune are beautiful on that yeah
i have i'm gonna say it's dune for me um primarily
because that's the one of the only one of the
five here that i've seen but the sound in there
does sound it for lack of a better word it sounds
amazing um it sounds real things have weight
to them ships make the sounds that you would
imagine they would in different environments
because they there is some planetary travel um
i would imagine that west side story probably
does have very good sound mixing and sound editing
um but without actually seeing slash hearing
it um i i don't feel comfortable throwing that
my vote to them and also as an aside oh i do
i'm a whore as an aside i just don't like the
story of west side story um it's fine i think
the original film from the late 60s early 70s
was it perfectly perfectly fine happy you know
i'm happy we have that did we really need a second
remake sure um love to see the remake of jesus
christ superstar whenever that comes out um but
yeah for me it's dune i said story's like one
of my favorite musicals you just shot me i just
don't like romeo and juliet narratives i just
am bored and tired and there's nothing they're
like i've heard the performances are good the
dancing looks amazing it's looks like when you're
a jet you're a jet all the way it looks like
it's filmed beautifully but i just this is not
my favorite musical i saw a live production of
my fair lady two weeks ago for like 30 dollars
same and i definitely don't like that musical
but no 30 dollars to see a live stage production
of that i'll cross it off the list but yeah i've
never seen my fair lady and we decided to go
last minute no i'm with you on that yeah and
really good production if anyone likes musicals
out there the 19 the 2018 revival of my fair
lady is quite good mark i'll let you go and i
was just gonna say who wants to sound off oh
i have to uh well i have to oh wow i just got
that sorry i'm still kind of uh trying to process
not liking my fair lady which is very sexist
okay it's still a but the okay again another
podcast but she ended up with the wrong guy just
so you know Well, Mike, very quickly, just so
you know, you know, the the movie My Fair Lady,
the main actor in it, Rex Harrison, you know
who he inspired? Yeah, it was the inspiration
of Stewie Griffin. Nice. Oh, yeah, I see that.
All right. All right. Well, OK, so just to keep
it going for sound, I'm thinking that's a. one
of those quote unquote below the line categories,
I'm going to agree with Jill on this and go with
Dune. At least right now. Yeah, just like as
a final thing, I think there's one particular
moment in Dune that sold me on why it should
win best sound here. And Jill, Mark, you've seen
it too, right? You've seen Dune? Absolutely,
yeah. That transition that they make when, and
I forgot the... name of the different people
um in the in the movie but i still loved it there's
a sound transition where it goes it's ambient
sound and then it goes into the score like for
that sequence i was like blown away of how smooth
that transition was was it with house harkonnen
I think it was. And I was just like, okay, this
is like, they are operating on a completely different
level. And for all the reasons, Jill, what you
said of how authentic and real all the sounds
seem to be blown away by it. And again, another
reason to see it in a theater, if you're able
and if you're comfortable with going, it really
sold me on it. So I'm going with Dune. One of
the rare times I would actually pick against
a musical in a best sound category. Well, fine.
i see how it is whatever whatever be wrong in
your wrongness whatever i guess i'm happy you
know and i'm happy that we are that musicals
are coming back into i don't want to say vogue
but coming back into fashion i would rather have
them not remake already existing films or rather
see newer adaptations of stage musicals that
haven't been made put to film but you know if
they're going to do it do it well and what i've
heard about west side story is that this is an
a -plus effort and it really it captures the
spirit while also updating the material a bit
last year last year was a great year for musicals
for the most part nominated for anything it didn't
it didn't that i that was probably my favorite
Of last year. I saw that one and I thought that
was a really good. Yeah. I just want to thank
you Mitchell for snapping along with me. So I
have a question about a film in this category.
After you read off the names. Okay. Let me read
off the names. We are to makeup and hairstyling.
The reason I'm not going to the Oscars is solidarity
of these people. The nominees are coming to America.
Cruella. Dune. Eyes of Tammy Faye and House of
Gucci. My question is, is this the House of Gucci's
only nomination? It is. It is. And that was supposed,
that was Oscar, I don't want to say it was Oscar
baited, but I feel like that when the - It was
a failed Oscar bait movie. Yeah, it rubbed people
the wrong way. Did you see that, Mike? I was
always curious of you. No. Because I mean, because
I was going to say, a lot of the time they're
- It seems like it's definitely overacted. I
mean, Jared Leto seems like he got into character
by playing like 12 -hour weeks or 12 -hour day
weeks of Mario the whole time. Yep. Because that's
entirely, he's like, I want to fly like a pigeon.
Yes, exactly. Or something like that, you know?
He was on like 16 five -hour energies. Yeah.
But no. That is the only one was for its makeup,
which is good makeup. Yeah, because the movie
about fashion being nominated for makeup and
hairstyling, I know it's not that, in itself
it's not fashion, but those are accessories that
complement it. I just kind of find it funny where
it's like this movie was thrown around as like
this big Oscar heavyweight and then here it is
with just one. It's the opposite story of The
Last Duel. The Last Duel got nominated for anything.
Both directed by the same guy, too, for that
matter. Oh, are they? Yeah, Ridley Scott. I was
going to say, oh, Jill, I thought that's why
you brought up The Last School, because of Ridley
Scott. I forgot that Ridley Scott directed House
of Gucci. I knew they did. He did Last School.
Who's he blaming for House of Gucci? Is it us
millennials on our phone still? I think he went
down to Gen Z. Gen Z? Okay. He went down. So,
i just need to bring up the fact that coming
to america is nominated for an oscar not coming
to america the original coming to america no
yeah no eddie murphy baby yeah eddie murphy's
career has been on the upswing especially since
dolomite is my name i did not see i've never
seen the original coming to america You need
to see it. It's so good. I want to. It's on my
list. Neither have I, unfortunately. Oh, the
original is so good, and the fact that they made
a sequel, and it was just so... They got a lot
of the original actors back, at least. They did.
They did it 25 years later, or whatever it was,
and, like, impressive. Great job. Probably more
than that. Holy shit. Yeah. Go for it. What's
great is that the original, Coming to America,
Mike, it was actually nominated for two Oscars,
so... This one, you know, is carrying on the
tradition of being nominated for Best Makeup.
Coming three America. Yeah. Coming three America,
baby. It's going to be coming to America, but
the E in America is going to be a three. Coming
to America. That's what happens, Mike. I'll remember
that you said it. Oh, yeah. Right here, right
now. So I'm a little shocked by that. Cruella
had decent makeup and hairstyling. The two things
that went to my head was Dune and Eyes of Tammy
Faye. House of Gucci, just because of Jared Leto,
can't win this category for me because he just
looked ridiculous. I'm going Eyes of Tammy Faye
just because it was a complete transformation
of character and it looked amazing. So I am very
much... Eyes of Tammy Faye. I feel like I'm going
against Dune a lot, and I don't know if I should,
and it may be a bold strategy. I'm looking at
a poster for House of Gucci. I feel like they
should have just gone Colin Farrell in his penguin
makeup outfit to stand in for Jared Leto. They
don't look at all the same, but they kind of
do. Just like the full body facial transformation.
I'm going to give my vote to Dune again. with
hairstyle and makeup there are some really memorable
looks in the film and what's really cool about
dune is you really get to see a lot of um i don't
want to say alien races but you get to see a
lot of different cultures um across the film
from different planets and the way that they
look suggests a lot about the infrastructure
and their cultures that they represent um i will
give a nod to cruella i have not actually seen
it but the fashion and the hair and the makeup
all look really really fantastic i believe it
takes place in the 80s um and you know if if
this is if cruella from here on out is going
to be known as this like renegade fashion icon
who sticks it to emma thompson you know look
good while doing it and i think they do Who has
a fear of Dalmatians because they killed her
mom. Yeah, well, you know, well, actually not
her real mom, Emma Thompson. Spoilers. Come on,
man. Come on, Jillian. What's happening? All
right. Who's I can't come up with a pun for this
one. Who's on deck? I'll make up for last time
here. So I'm going to go. You're going to do
Coming to America? No, no, no, no. I'm going
to go with the eyes of Tammy Faye. And I'm going
to bring this up for a number of different categories
as we discuss this. Oscars are won by narratives.
And what I mean by that is in this category in
particular, the entire Academy is voting on these
awards. It's not just the guilds at this point.
So when it comes to best makeup and hairstyling,
if everyone gets a vote, what is going to drive
people to vote for any of these five in particular?
The Eyes of Tammy Faye has this narrative now.
because of Jessica Chastain saying what she said
of skipping the red carpet. So I think people
are going to show their support and maybe lend
their vote to the Eyes of Tammy Faye. The Oscar
voting final window started on Thursday. I believe
it ends tomorrow. So now is the right time to
have that narrative come out. So I'm going to
go with the Eyes of Tammy Faye. And to Jill's
point about Cruella, I think they're going to
get their Oscar in another category that we'll
get to later. i'm with you on that because i
think i know where you're going with this mark
yeah hair is standing on edge let's go so yeah
uh i'm actually just looking at up where so we
are recording this on a saturday mitch and that
actually uh from what i see i could be wrong
oscar voting actually goes until tuesday i believe
oh yeah yeah so they still have time with that
um i've Yeah, I'm thinking we got to remember
it's not just makeup, it's makeup and hairstyling.
I think the favor is towards Eyes of Tammy Faye.
So for the time being, I'll go with Eyes of Tammy
Faye. I think I know what category you're referring
to for Cruella. Yeah. Is it coming up here? It
might be the next one here. Costume design. Look
at that. This is a category filled with films
I want, like with one particular film. Well,
two films I really, really wanted to see that
I didn't get to see. So costume design, here
are the nominees. Cruella, Cyrano, Dune, Nightmare
Alley, and West Side Story. Cyrano's the only
one out of this that I didn't get around to seeing.
I think they released that too late. I agree.
I thought it was going to be out way earlier
than it actually was. Yeah. That was one I was
actually really excited for out of all of them,
because I love the story of Cyrano and everything
looks great about it. Right. Mike, you like the
story about a guy who tries to like a girl, but
can't because he feels he's not like good enough
for her or ugly for her. Is that what you're
saying? Yes. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying.
Yeah. Steve Martin, he just has a big nose. No,
I did. He has a big nose. This version subverts
it by Peter Dinklage. I saw Cyrano the opera
when I was young because they made it into an
opera and I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
I do actually really enjoy that storyline so
I do want to see it. um but that's not my winner
i think a lot of people are going to choose the
same because mitchell already alluded to it cruella
i think it's just i was i was gonna go nightmare
alley uh no just kidding uh cruella for sure
yeah nightmare alley looked i need to see it
it it looks like it could be a contender cruella
will probably win it but i'm actually gonna broken
record i'm gonna throw it at dune once again
uh the specifically the outfit that stands out
is when they first get to um arrakis um paul's
mother is wearing this really intricate dress
that um like is also supposed to be like respectful
to the cultures on arrakis And it just, it looks
amazing. And she's got like handmaids holding
the trail, the train of it. Yeah, it like, I
don't know how long it took them to make the
fashions in there, including like the armor that
we see, but it all looks very real. Like you
could find that in the, you know, 50, 60 years
in the future in a post -apocalyptic world, who
knows. But I could see Cruella winning this if
it's going to win anything. yeah i think it's
gonna come down between those two yeah i think
another thing too is um i'm i'm saying cruella
will as well uh but another thing too and we
got to bring this up about dune is that um it's
only it's really dune part one so there's really
a second one coming out so there could be a kind
of thing where people might do something like
they did with the original war of the rings trilogy
where they nominated the first two they didn't
win but then in the third one it just the third
one won like everything yeah yeah i don't know
if some return of the king is the of this the
original trilogy is the one that really should
have been the one that took the king goes on
40 minutes too long It should have been Fellowship
or my Dark Horse pick Two Towers, but Fellowship
probably should have been the one that won Best
Picture. But I think Mark makes a really good
point that we know there's part two coming. So
for all we know, Dune might whiff a lot of awards
this year with the logic of the Academy saying,
well, they'll make another one. There's probably
very little room. There's probably little doubt
that it's going to be bad. It's going to probably
be very, very good. So unless it tanks, we'll...
we'll give um the direct best director we'll
give best picture or you know we'll see what
comes out but so you're saying idiot mike has
a chance with all his anti -dune boats well maybe
only because i could see that being the logic
that they think the next one will be equally
good and will have enough of a reason to issue
out the awards then but it would also look egg
on their face if For some whatever reason, the
wheels come off the apple cart and it isn't as
successful. Okay. All right. So it sounds like
we are moving on to production design. Production
design nominees are Dune, Nightmare Alley, Power
of the Dog, Tragedy of Macbeth, and West Side
Story. Yeah, I'm going to go Dune here. And to
everything that Joel was saying about the costumes,
I'm giving the side edge to Cruella in that category.
But you could also say the same thing about the
production design. This world feels so lived
in in just the best possible way. And frankly,
it has a lot of different scenes and scenarios.
It also makes the desert setting look beautiful,
which I haven't really seen done that well since
Mad Max Fury Road. So I'm going to go with Dune
here and it is the favorite, not a heavy favorite,
but it is the favorite in this category. I'm
really actually, as soon as this popped up, I'm
like, you know what? I'm not even sure if I have,
I definitely don't have a for sure one on this
because part of me is saying Dune, but at the
same time, I think it's really close with Nightmare
Alley because not to get too far ahead, but Nightmare
Alley, I don't see it having a chance of winning
much of anything else. entirely going forward
with its nominations so it's it's really between
those two for me i don't think uh i have a for
sure answer as of yet people will have to wait
until i type it out on my site later so it's
funny you bring up nightmare alley as your second
choice i was stuck between dune and tragedy and
mcbeth because of the production design for that
one um i'm actually going with dune shocking
I know I've been against it this whole time,
but I'm going with Dune on this one. The whole
design of it from the opening trailer. Like I've
said, it is not a movie for me. It's never had
my attention because it just was not a story
I cared about. But seeing the opening trailer
was enough where I was like, this world looks
beautiful. This world looks amazing. I'm kind
of interested in it. The fact that it got me
that much was. enough for me to say i think dune
is going to take production design i wouldn't
be surprised if it does i'm actually going to
give it to my vote to nightmare alley um i agree
with mark i don't think it's really going to
win much else um i also know that um there was
kind of like mixed reviews on it but del toro
films always look incredibly distinction polished
and the There wasn't any other films that really
looked like Nightmare Alley this year. There's
also no other films that look like Dune this
year, but it's probably definitely going to win
at least a couple things. So I'll throw Nightmare
Alley one little Oscar bone. I'll also say there's
nothing that looks like Tragedy of Macbeth this
year either. True. But I didn't see as much promotional
things the way that I saw Nightmare Alley. And
I really, really, really wanted to see Nightmare
Alley. Fair. That's the one I've been exposed
to the most. I also would say that West Side
Story. Yeah, I just never got around. I just
couldn't get that. I know. No, I get it because
Claire and I have been for two weeks saying we're
going to watch it and still haven't. And you
watched Hellraiser instead. I did watch Hellraiser
instead. yeah i think west side story also should
get a nod of recognition for production um that
movie looks really bright and colorful and distinct
as well okay yeah it's uh i would almost i think
because of those reasons i'm gonna give that
more credit to the cinematography on west side
story nightmare alley just one more and again
that's not my choice here but something historically
that helps in this category it's a period piece
right it's set in the 40s so there's a it's very
showy when it comes to the production design
that they're able to put out there um now typically
the period pieces that have done well are older
like victorian era and before um but because
it's guillermo del toro because he has such a
visual style about him i could totally see this
also winning but i'm gonna stick with dune You
bring up cinematography, and that is our next
category. Best cinematography. Another category
that's not going to be shown. Yeah, right. No,
no, that one's still going to be shown. It is?
Yes, that one is shown. Production design was
not shown. Oh, I got that wrong. Yeah, cinematography
is still going to be shown. Oh, I feel bad. That's
fine. You're fine. It happens. Yeah, but for
me, that's bad. Well, cinematography, the nominees
are Dune, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog,
The Tragedy of Macbeth, and West Side Story.
And not The Batman. Guys, look, I think I'm going
to be a broken record here. And when we do our
final tally at the end of this, I think Dune
is going to walk away at the most Oscar trophies
this year. They're just going to... dominate
below the line and then just get hosed at the
really big awards but uh i know uh but i really
love dune and again this is i thought the power
of the dog was shot beautifully as well uh tragedy
macbeth you know i'm a sucker for black and white
and i thought it looked amazing um but dune really
stood out to me still and maybe it's the bias
of seeing it in a theater but i really loved
it and it would be my personal pick here it's
funny you bring up theaters Because my vote was
the power of the dog, but the problem is it was
Netflix. And so I'm wondering if I'm, I'm making
the wrong decision because people saw it in theaters.
I'm going power of the dog. I really, this is
one that I'm kind of like sitting on the edge
of going. I don't know. Cause I watched this
on Netflix and that's what it released on. And,
you know, it was beautiful. It was absolutely
gorgeous. But. It also is you're watching on
your phone or you're watching on a computer screen
or you're watching on your TV. It's not the theater
experience. So I'm wondering with that one, I'm
going to say Power of the Dog with a huge asterisk.
But I'm going to defend Power of the Dog. I'm
kind of in the same boat as Mike, except between
those two. like production design i'm on the
fence i guess if for back for production design
i would say dune at the moment now i'll probably
say the same for cinematography as well for now
but you know power of the dog i remember watching
like i was watching my mom which is by the way
one of the weirder movies you can watch with
your mom don't do it Yeah, I didn't realize what
that movie was about until we were watching.
I was just like, oh, it's supposed to be awards
consideration wise. And Benedict Cumberbatch
supposed to be really good. I start watching
it. I'm like, this is one of the weirdest movies
I chose to watch with my mom, especially, especially,
you know, anyway. But I do remember turning to
her and being like, you know, I really wish this
was in the theater because the way it looks is
just. stunning just absolutely stunning so yeah
definitely so so i'd say for now it's dune but
i could switch at the last second to pirate the
dog yeah i don't know does it does it really
need to be said the only one that i've seen of
these is dune and mitchell really summed it up
well um so my point my pick would be towards
dune i think west side story and the tragedy
of macbeth should be acknowledged for how great
they look um you know i think all of these are
worthy films if you know one wins over the other
it's there will be no upsets or disappointments
um But I do think Dune will likely clinch it.
But I can see the power of the dog kind of coming
up from behind and taking it. And I think it
would be a bit of an unexpected win for the power
of the dog in this one because I think it's going
to swing. The Oscar votes are going to swing
very well into its favor for other nominations.
Okay. All right. We move on to best original
song. which I can't find because I can't read
the stuff. Where is it? There it is. Music. Sorry,
it's listed as music original song. That's what
was confusing me. I was looking for original
song. So music original song. Nominees are Be
Alive from King Richard. Dos Aruguitas from Encanto.
Down to Joy from Belfast. No Time to Die from
No Time to Die. And Somehow You Do from Four
Good Days. What the fuck is that? It's going
to go to Encanto. Here's the thing. First off,
the Somehow You Do, the reason that probably
got nominated, because that's definitely a movie
I've not seen or really heard of until the Oscars,
is because of who did the music and lyrics is
Diane Warren. She has been nominated somewhere
in the double digits, like 13 times or something,
and still has not won. i and sadly i think that's
probably going to be the case this year too but
i'll let you guys uh well i'm just looking at
the names on this thing so original song always
has big names and everything like that but all
right be alive is dixon and beyonce uh dos origuitas
maybe i did better that time probably not but
that's lynn manual miranda down to joy from van
morrison no time to die billy eilish and phineas
o 'connell and then somehow you do by dan uh
warren um no time to die i don't think i've actually
heard that bomb theme versus like when skyfall
happened you couldn't escape it yes i was everywhere
and it's a really really good song so it helped
yeah i no time to die also came out way before
the film came out because you didn't have to
wait well and that's my thing with no time to
die skyfall was a good song without being related
to a Bond theme, No Time to Die, you kind of
needed to know it was a Bond theme to enjoy it.
So I don't think No Time to Die is my winner.
I'm sticking with you with the Encanto pick,
also because Lin -Manuel Miranda, because he's
a darling for everybody. Lin -Manuel Miranda.
I had to. I'm sorry, Mike. Well, I think, well,
I'm... gonna be the differer here because i do
think the favorite actually is no time to die
and that is what i'm going with now i think what
should also be mentioned is uh there were a lot
of confusion for people for encanto why they
don't have that movie we don't talk about bruno
uh well you won't be happy to realize then jill
that they're actually performing that at the
oscars well when are they going to be performing
this as well though because dos aguitas is um
fantastic and i believe it's the first disney
non -english disney song to be nominated that
next oh wow that could be i believe the version
of remember me Remember Me from Coco is sung
a bunch of times, but I think every time it's
sung, it's sung in English. I think We Don't
Talk About Bruno is a really great song. My personal
favorite, if I could pick any song from Encanto
to be put in there, Dos Argaritas is one of them,
and then Surface Pressure. I think this is the
better song. Well, the thing is... people got
to realize is that they only are allowed, I think,
to pick one song per movie. Because like back
in the 90s, when you had The Lion King and The
Latin and stuff like that, you would get like
three of the five nominees would all come from
the same movie. So I think they just basically
wanted to make sure every movie had a chance
in a sense. So Lin -Manuel Miranda submitted
Dos Origines. test, which I thought I would get
better than Mike, and I guess I didn't. But that,
I believe, happened not long before We Don't
Talk About Bruno became this big viral sensation
that it became. And even then, I think he ended
up defending it, saying it was a much more heartfelt
part to the movie than... We don't talk about
Bruno. But nevertheless, I still don't think
it's going to win. I still think it's going to
go to No Time to Die. Yeah, guys, this is one
of the tougher categories for me. I keep going
back and forth between No Time to Die and Dos
Orguitas. And it's for two reasons. And frankly,
it has nothing to do with the songs themselves.
I think a potential win for Billie Eilish at
the Oscars. It could be a way for the Academy
to say, hey, Gen Z, we see you. We gave Billy
Eilish a trophy. He doesn't want any more trophies,
though. That's the thing. But now I'm looking
at Encanto and just the idea. Am I old? What?
I'm not a Billy Eilish fan. Am I old? I don't
like the album she did that blew her up, but
happier. happier now or whatever it's called
that's a really great album so like i like the
song in nba but everything else i'm just kind
of like meh about am i bossa nova is a great
song okay i i think her and phineas make a good
pair and i really love the production um but
i'll say i'll say this i think i'm ultimately
gonna go with encanto here dos arguitas and it's
because of one I think that soundtrack in general
is inescapable at this point. And that's going
to be on the mind of a lot of voters, especially
parent voters. And also this as to I forgot who
brought it up, but the idea of representation
in Spanish speaking households. Now you have
a really, really big nomination here. I think
that's a big deal as the Academy has expanded
its roster of who is included in the Academy
and it has gotten more international. So I'm
going to go with Dos Ariguitas here. I'll add
in on the diversification of like... of music
i believe this year for like the bill with billboard
top 100 they had a lot more um non -english songs
that were like cracked the top 100 than ever
before so there really is starting to see a shift
away from like just english english songs dominating
pop the charts and I'm also you know we've had
like the BTS army and all of that happening but
this is really refreshing to see musicians from
other countries a lot of them from Latin American
countries really starting to pop up and being
recognized so obviously I have Saturdays off
now Claire and I are trying to figure out what
we're going to do tonight and one of the things
that came up we're not driving all the way that's
the only reason we said no but Bad Bunny is in
New York tonight And we thought about going because
it's just it's it's Bad Bunny. He would put on
a show, it seems like. Yes, he would. All right.
Music original score. These are your nominees.
Don't Look Up, Dune, Encanto, Parallel Mothers,
The Power of the Dog. So, Mike, can I go first
on this one? Yes, you can. I'm going to make
a defense of someone. And that's the. first one
here because if this would be ridiculous well
first off it's so ridiculous that they're not
showing this award on tv yes so the heavy favorite
rightfully so here and my pick is han zimmer
for dune now han zimmer first off he's like one
of the biggest names in movie music just behind
probably only behind obviously john williams
yeah but he So, and Hans Zimmer's actually only
won once before. He won for The Lion King, the
original way back in the day. Now, here's another
thing about Dune. I don't know if you know this.
Did you know that he actually made his own instruments
for the score? Mitchell sent it in our group
chat. Oh, he did? No, not a super kazoo. Stop
it. I did not. That wasn't real? That wasn't
real. No, I joked. Oh, I believed you. Jill asked
what the name of the instrument was, and I was
like, it's like four kazoos in one. It's called
a super kazoo. Or a quad zoo or something. A
quad zoo. I don't know. I can't believe you believed
me. I thought Mitchell sent it, not you. There
was a stamp of authority coming from Mitchell.
A quad zoo. A super kazoo. Anyway, but yeah.
i can't say the same for the other ones other
uh composers in this category but if you make
your own instruments how can you not vote for
that yes i mean that's like ridiculous so i didn't
know where to go with this one and then mitchell
let us all know that he created his own instrument
and then it became obvious uh hans zimmer all
the way so and i think seeing name alone i probably
still would have probably picked on zimmer i
also want to know is johnny greenwood related
to lee greenwood the guy who did uh proud to
be an american because that makes sense i was
just talking about that song yesterday i'm proud
to be american and uh that song the chorus still
haunts my brain i had to sing in like fifth grade
yeah but like johnny greenwood if he's the son
or related to lee greenwood in any way it does
make sense for the power of the dog but no hans
zimmer yeah And I brought this up before, but
narrative, right? It's like, what is driving
the narrative of these nominees beyond their
work? Hans Zimmer has that with the instruments
thing. But I do want to give a shout out to the
Super Kazoo. I want to give a shout out to Nicholas
Bertel. He doesn't need a shout out from lowly
old me, but he is actually one of my favorite
young composers who has now been nominated, I
believe, four times. I could be wrong. This is
either his third or fourth, but he was nominated
for Moonlight and for one of my personal favorites.
If Beale Street could talk from a couple of years
ago. And he is probably most famous for scoring
Succession. And coming up with the theme. So
big shouts to him. But I think this is Hans Zimmer's
award for sure. I agree. It's probably going
to go to Dune. I think that this is one of those
categories where if it didn't win, it would,
I don't want to say it'd be an upset, but it
would be an unexpected loss. Well, we're not
going to see it. Well, you know what I mean.
But I think Encanto also has a really great score.
It does tell the story very well. You don't need
to be watching the visuals or hearing the Lin
-Manuel Miranda's songs to not be able to follow
along with it. But I think this is a Dune win.
Okay. Well, that seems like we're pretty sold
on that. Best film editing. So, film editing.
We've got... Don't Look Up, Dune, King Richard,
Power of the Dog, and Tick Tick Boom. I'll go.
I'll start. Dune will probably win this one.
I have seen that and I've seen Tick Tick Boom.
I would actually be very happy if Tick Tick Boom
won something. throughout the this year's oscars
um so while i think dune will also probably walk
out with this um and it would very much be deserved
if they did it um i think tick tick boom should
be a considerate a contender um but once again
that's just because i've happened to have seen
both of those films so tick tick boom with the
little asterisk saying it's probably going to
dune anyway i mean i'm going with dune even though
i've seen power of the dog and i loved it I'm
just going with Dune on this one. It's hearing
you guys talk about it. Film editing makes sense
for it because there wasn't bad film editing,
I'm guessing, you know, like, I don't know. And
the power of the dog at some points felt like
it could run a little long. So maybe that's my
argument because it just could have been edited
down more. But even that, I don't know. I think
it's Dune. Yeah, Tick, Tick, Boom has this great
sequence in a swimming pool that like, it's almost
like the emotional climax of the film and the
way that that all. goes is your it your heart
is pumping you're at the edge of your seat and
you know when you think about it in a vacuum
like what all of like what like what are the
events that are brought us here it's actually
like they're momentous to the main character
but to everyone else it's just like you'll be
okay it's fine it's not nearly it shouldn't be
this stressful but the the way that the film
shows all of it is just chef's kiss mark i'll
have you go first uh because i'm not picking
what has been said so far all right um well i
was going well i was actually almost waiting
on you because i'm still a little on the fence
here because i am still i mean my first um my
first gut reaction is to dune but i know there
have because film editing is one of the more
underrated categories to uh the non -experienced
oscar viewer because it is it's up there with
best director and helping out with best picture
and stuff um so at the moment i'm thinking dune
but there could be uh i honestly think there
could be a good case made for tick tick boom
and even king richard um yes i feel as well so
at the moment i'm thinking dune but i don't be
surprised if i change it last minute to like
king richard or Tick, tick, boom. And Mark, I'm
going to go with King Richard. And this is the
first time we brought this up in our podcast.
For those who haven't seen it, kind of sounds
like a weird title, but it's about Richard Williams,
the father of Serena and Venus Williams. And
editing doesn't necessarily come to mind when
you watch that movie because of, frankly, how
kind of straightforward it is. There are some
subtleties to it and like how they put together
a sequence, but it's not exactly showy like Dune
or like Tick, Tick, Boom. And it doesn't really
drive as much tension as something as Power of
the Dog. But what it does have is it won the
Ace Eddie Award, which is like the editing Oscars.
It won basically the comp for Best Picture there.
And that was considered a huge momentum swing.
So those in the editing guild voted for King
Richard. And I think it's because... the editor
who has kind of had like a little press tour
going on has really been touted as one of the
key factors in how this movie came out so well.
She actually said some of the scenes that she
had received were not usable and that they should
be redone and they were and there's one in particular
scene where Will Smith as Richard is talking
to a young Serena Williams and how she's going
to be the best in the world. Spoilers. That was
going to take place at their home. She didn't
like it. She's like, hey, we need to redo this.
And it sounds like a director decision, but her
having that much influence in that particular
scene, having such a big payoff in the movie.
I don't know. I think it shows that the editor
can go beyond just being in the edit bay and
actually calling the shots. So I'm going to go
with King Richard here. I like that you are,
we're saying spoilers and saying spoilers, Serena
would become the greatest in the world. And I'm
like, I think we, I don't even watch tennis.
I think I know that. Yes. Yeah. For those who
have not followed tennis at all in 20 years.
Yeah. Right. My bad. Sorry. Well, so that'll
do it for us that are not attending the Oscars
because of our beloved makeup and hairstyling
people. We stand in solidarity with you. I'm
not showing up because of the Oscar, because
of the omission of original score. That's why
I'm not watching the Oscars. Well, Jill stands
in solidarity, too. I have to watch it. It's
on my birthday. Oh, we're watching, but we're
just not showing up. Yeah. Take that, Academy.
I have a bridal shower the next day, or the day
of. So I ain't watching. Well, that'll do it
for this episode of Game for a Movie. We'll see
you next time.